The Deck

Jack thinks the new deck is pretty good. It'll look even better in another month when a couple of coats of oil are applied which will make it an even richer red colour. We love it!

This is the new outdoor setting I bought a few weeks ago. Farmer Phil and I spent the afternoon putting it together yesterday while the rain was pouring down!

New Ute!

As soon as Ryan turned 17 he went for his driving licence and got it first go which is very unusual for 17yo boys in our area - the RTA here is very tough on teens going for their licences with only a 56% pass rate!

As you can imagine the first thing Ryan wanted when he left school and came to work for us was to buy his own vehicle. We searched for a few weeks until he found exactly what he wanted. So here it is - Ryan's pride and joy!!

Home Alone!

Yesterday and last night we had another 10mls of rain so this has really thrown a spanner in the harvest works!!

I'm home alone for the weekend as Farmer Phil and Ryan have gone to a water ski tournament in Albury and Emma is in Sydney performing in the Schools Spectacular.

I think I'd better head to town and do some Christmas shopping before we get busy with harvest again. I'm not really in the Christmas Spirit yet but I'd better get into it quick because I've got my first Christmas party tonight!

Ryan just back from a slalom ski

Farmer Phil - Media Star Again!

Each time there's a newsworthy story about farming the local Channel 7 news reporter seems to call on Farmer Phil to give a comment or two. Earlier in the year it was about the impact the mouse plague was having on the crop. Today it was about the 25mls of rain we had over night and the impact on harvest.

Needless to say there will be no harvesting done over the next few days!

http://au.prime7.yahoo.com/n4/news/a/-/local/12032375/rain-halts-harvest-video/

Harvesting Again

We finally started to harvest again late this afternoon after waiting a few hours for the moisture content of the canola seed to come down below 8% which it's required to be at the handling facility.

The two headers, Farmer Phil, the semi trailer, and the tractor and chaser bin waiting to start.

This is my view through the windscreen of the header.

Deck Update

The deck building has been a very slow process with the builder busy with other jobs elsewhere. They will finish it today with the last boards about to be fixed down now. I'll show you the finished product this afternoon. We're really happy with the result and it'll look even better in a few weeks when we oil it.

Harvey Norman delivered my new timber/wicker outdoor setting this morning. It's in cardboard boxes all ready to be screwed together! Can't wait for Summer to really kick in and have some BBQ's with family and friends on the new deck!!

Harvest 2011

We started harvesting last week, but we've now been stopped for 3 days after receiving 15mls of rain on Saturday and Sunday!

The canola is yielding really well with the oil content up to 45% - it should be at least 42%. For every % above 42 we receive a bonus premium.

We bought a second header during the year so that we can hopefully complete harvest a bit quicker before the receival handling sites become full.

I am driving one of the headers with Daniel and Ryan sharing the other one and chaser bin duties. Farmer Phil is driving the semi delivering all the grain.

Daniel is home from Deniliquin just to help with harvest, and Ryan is now a full time employee of ours after leaving school at the end of Term 3 when he finished Year 11. He turned 17 at the same time and got his Provisional driving licence so he's been a helping hand for us. Emma is our housekeeper as she's basically finished school for the year - no more lessons, just work experience and a leadership camp to attend.

We should be finished harvest in another 4 weeks - all going well weather wise, breakdown wise and sanity wise!!

Surfer/Sailor Boy

Last week when President Obama visited our country my nephew Surfer/Sailor Boy was the centre of our attention in both the print and TV media. He was splashed across every newspaper and TV news report for a few days.

You see, he recently enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy and is based at the moment in Darwin. When Obama and Julia Gillard visited, my nephew was smack bang in the front row behind the podium where they both spoke from.

That's him in the grey fatigues right next to President Obama's hand!

Family Reunion

A few weeks ago my sister Lisa and I went to a family reunion on my dad's side. The last reunion was in September 1999, a few months before our dad passed away. Both Lisa and I decided that Dad would've wanted us to attend this latest reunion even though we'd probably know hardly anyone there.

It was true!! We only knew a handful of people but we got to meet a lot of dad's first cousins who we'd heard about over the years but had never met them. We had a really nice time in the end.

As kids Lisa and I would always get mixed up by long lost relatives because they all thought that we looked so much alike! There is two years difference in our age with Lisa being the oldest and me being about five inches taller! I guess it didn't help when mum dressed us in exactly the same handmade clothes - the only difference being the colour of the material!!

Here are the two photos taken of us at the reunion - what do you think? Alike or not?

Lisa

Me